


I’ve got scars that can’t be seen

by Neurocrat



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Porn, F/M, Feels, Fix-It, Hand Jobs, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex, Post-Episode: s01e08 The Defenders, Reunion Sex, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 16:42:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17063315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neurocrat/pseuds/Neurocrat
Summary: Karen and Foggy, mourning Matt in his apartment, hear someone upstairs… It’s Matt! He’s alive! Tears and showering together and a lovefest ensues.





	I’ve got scars that can’t be seen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [electriceell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/electriceell/gifts).



> The prompt: “Matt and Foggy's reunion doesn't happen in the bar. Rather, Matt finds Foggy (and Karen, if you want) in his apartment. Relief, disbelief, and anger lead to frantic sex and love confessions.”
> 
> Hell yes.
> 
> This fic takes place in an alternate timeline where Matt somehow gets into the prison without stealing Foggy’s identity (hand-waving) 
> 
> Title from David Bowie’s Lazarus.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Foggy was saying, as Karen fumbled with the keys in one hand, a half-empty fifth of whisky they’d both been drinking out of in the other.

Karen made a “pssh” sound as she turned the key in the lock. “I pay the rent,” she said, bitterly.

“Fair point,” Foggy replied as they stumbled into Matt’s apartment. “Does that mean if I puke on the floor, you’re responsible for the damages?”

“No,” Karen said, matter-of-factly, taking another swig. She shut the door behind them and went to sit on the couch.

Foggy stood nearby. “What are we doing here, Karen?”

They’d been having a drink together at Josie’s, something they’d done a couple of times since Midland Circle. Sometimes they didn’t talk about Matt, even, but they were grieving together. The way they both knew how – by getting sloshed.

This time, though, Foggy followed Karen to a bodega after Josie’s for some cheap whisky. And they made their way down the street drinking it, Foggy not asking questions about the turns Karen was choosing to make, until they were here.

“I don’t know,” Karen said.

Foggy sat down on the other end of the couch and ran his hands through his hair tiredly. “I can’t get him out of my head,” he said in a small voice. “These dreams I have, Karen. I kept waking Marci up … She kept telling me I needed to move on, but.”

Karen turned to look at him. “Wait, are you telling me that’s why you two split up?” A note of righteous anger rose in her voice. “Marci couldn’t deal with you grieving, over your friend?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Foggy said. “Marci, she – she knows what Matt meant to me. I mean – she knows that I … That he wasn’t just a friend to me.”

“You mean, she knows you are in love with him,” Karen said.

Foggy scrubbed his hands over his face. Karen was the only one he’d ever told, on purpose, anyway. Marci knew, but that was just because she was observant, and Foggy’s feelings for Matt were not exactly subtle.

“Was,” Foggy corrected. “ _Was_ in love with him. He’s gone, Karen.”

Karen shook her head. They’d been over this many times before. “I wouldn’t be paying his rent if I believed that, Foggy,” she said.

Foggy scooted closer to her on the couch, put his hand on her shoulder. “Look, I want to believe he’s alive, too,” he said, voice cracking. “That’s the thing, though. I want it so bad that I know it isn’t true.”

“That’s not how truth works,” Karen said, laughing a little at the absurdity of it. “At least not all the time.”

Foggy smiled at her, wiping his face, which he suddenly found was a little wet. “Jesus, if he was still alive, Karen – if I could see him again, one more time, just one more time.” He had both of her shoulders now, facing her.

She stroked his arms and looked him in the eyes. “What? What would you say to him if you could?”

“That – that I love him. I – God. I’d tell him everything. That I have loved him and wanted him all these years. Like, not like friends. Wanted … You know. All the things I’ve told you about.” He paused to sniffle. “That I don’t care what kind of vigilante bullshit he gets up to every night, he can crawl home to my bed whenever he wants, whenever… I’m his, forever, until he gets sick of me, or dies. Again.”

He was sobbing by the end of it, and Karen wrapped her arms around him, stroking his back while he breathed messily against her neck.

“I know, I know,” Karen murmured to him. “You know I love him, too. I’m not like you, though - there’s a limit to how much of his bullshit I will take.”

Foggy giggled wetly. Karen stroked Foggy’s tear-wet cheek.

“And him pretending he’s dead is past my limit,” she added, an edge in her voice. “Especially with how much it’s hurting you.”

Foggy sighed and rolled his eyes. “God, Karen. You’re so sure. How can you be so sure?”

“Because he is a bastard,” Karen replied. “And it’s just like him to leave us hanging like this.”

“I love that bastard.”

“I know,” Karen said. She blinked back her own tears. “Foggy, I know.”

They looked at each other, and the air between them was heavy with the memories of the times they’d drowned their Matt-related sorrows in each other. Each time it had been a dubious idea, and no less this time, but sobriety was far away, and to Foggy, it felt like a natural thing to do at this point. It couldn’t make them feel any worse, right? Karen slid her hand around the back of Foggy’s neck, getting her fingers up in his newly short hair. She touched her forehead to Foggy’s, and both of them closed their eyes as they angled their mouths together.

Their lips had just touched when there was a noise on the fire escape outside. Karen jumped. Foggy’s breath caught in his throat.

“Probably just feral cats fighting,” Foggy dismissed with a nervous laugh. He tried to draw Karen’s face back to his.

“No, Foggy, wait,” Karen said. They got still, listening.

They heard the distinct sound of the fire escape door getting dragged open. Something big and loud, much bigger than a feral cat, was thumping its way inside. Anyway, cats couldn’t unlatch doors. Karen went to her purse on the coffee table and brought out her gun with shaking hands. Foggy watched her, gripping the arm of the couch.

The sounds upstairs were wet, squelching. Karen steadied the gun in front of her and moved toward the stairs slowly.

“ _Karen!_ ” Foggy hissed at her, but she waved him silent with one hand. Foggy needed to run over there, grab her and tackle her to the ground - she was putting herself in _danger_ \- but somehow he sat frozen and just watched with horror as Karen put one foot in front of the other up the stairs.

Then he saw Karen stop and lower the gun. “I _knew_ it!” she cried, voice breaking. “I fucking _knew_ it!”

Foggy was immediately going to her side then, pounding up the stairs ungracefully. His heart hammered in his chest. A wet, hurt, bedraggled man was lying face-down on the floor upstairs. What was once a nice suit ruined, a puddle of water around him with blood leaking into it.

“It’s not him,” Foggy muttered, shaking his head. _The suit, the hair, the width of his shoulders, that … butt… No. Wishful thinking. Stupid, Nelson, stupid. Don’t do this to yourself._ He dug his nails into his palms and watched Karen put the gun down gently on the floor and use both hands to take the man by one shoulder and turn him over.

“It’s not him, Karen,” Foggy said louder, shaking his head harder even as Matt’s face became visible, looking half-conscious. “It’s not him… It can’t be him…”

“ _Foggy!_ ” Karen said, sharp. “Shut up and help me!” She started wriggling one of Matt’s arms out of his suitcoat sleeve.

Foggy knelt on the ground with her, lifting the man – Matt – up so Karen could work his soaked suitcoat off. _No -_ _not Matt. Can’t be Matt. But we should help this man anyway, whoever he is._ He suppressed a shiver going through his body.

Karen was ripping the white dress shirt open, exposing a mess of bruises and wounds, when the man spoke in a hoarse gurgle. “It’s okay, Karen,” he said. He struggled to sit up. “I’ve – I’ve got it.”

Foggy sobbed. Wrecked as Matt’s voice was, apparently from near-drowning, Foggy _knew_ it. He’d heard that voice hoarse and rough like that many times, from Matt being hurt, from… . He threw himself at Matt, knocking him back down, fuck his injuries. He’d kill him again if he had to.

“Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt,” he whispered, gathering Matt’s body to his chest. “You’re back. You’re back.”

“Hey, Foggy,” Matt croaked, gripping onto Foggy’s back with something like desperation.

“Foggy, he’s hurt!” Karen cried. “Matt, please, we need to clean you up.”

“I’m … fine,” said Matt, and stretched out one hand tentatively toward her, the other still gripping Foggy. Karen looked at the proffered hand and sighed.

“You owe me rent,” she said bitterly. Then, she took hold of his hand. He pulled her into their wet, messy, group hug, and Karen let go of the tears stinging at her eyes. “ _I told you so_ ,” she muttered to Foggy. Foggy was too overcome to be irritated at her, or even to be furious at Matt, as some rational corner of his brain knew he should be.

A bone-deep shudder went through Matt’s body, and Foggy realized how cold he was to the touch. Not a corpse, but not warm enough to be healthy for a living person. Karen seemed to realize it at the same time. “Let’s get you into the shower,” she said, starting to help Matt to his feet. Foggy pulled himself together enough to get Matt’s other arm up over his shoulders.

Karen was fully prepared to drag him, but Matt managed something approaching a walk. He posed no trouble getting to the bathroom, didn’t protest as they sat him on the toilet and stripped off his clothes. Foggy busied himself getting the hot water running to not have to participate in the pants part. Karen clearly couldn’t be bothered to care.

She struggled getting him into the shower, though, and ended up half in it herself, fully dressed, getting soaked as the water pelted Matt’s skin and the blood ran in diluted rivulets down his chin, across his ribs. Foggy was torn between helping and wanting to run the fuck out of the room. But he was a grown-up, damn it. Sighing, preparing to have to get wet, he threw off his already-loosened tie and started unbuttoning his shirt (his suitcoat, he realized, he’d already abandoned elsewhere in the apartment, an aeon of hours ago which was probably actually ten minutes).

But that’s when Matt, naked, wet Matt, took Karen’s face between his hands and kissed her on the mouth.

Karen froze. And then rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Matt, for fuck’s sake-“

“I, I should go,” Foggy stammered, shirt half-off, turning to leave the room.

“Foggy.” Matt’s voice stopped him in his tracks. “I - I heard you.”

Foggy slowly turned around. “You heard what, Matt?”

Matt’s face angled a little in Foggy’s direction. “What you would say to me. If you could see me one more time.” Karen gently removed Matt’s hands from her face, but Matt kept one of her hands in his. He rubbed over the back of her hand with his thumb.

A shock of embarrassment and panic went through Foggy, but it faded fast – what did it matter? He sighed heavily. “Yeah. Okay. Like you didn’t already know all my secrets, anyway. Listen, if you and Karen have, like, catching up to do, I’m gonna leave.”

Matt was shaking his head frantically. He never dropped Karen’s hand, and she was starting to look a little puzzled. “Foggy. I never knew. Never like you think I knew.”

Foggy was at a loss. What was Matt’s point? Why was he pushing this, now, after having come back from the dead, and while engaging in nude kissing with Karen?

“I’m here, now, Foggy,” Matt said, his voice low and hoarse. “You can say it to me, now.”

A gleam of understanding cut through Foggy’s exasperation. Matt wasn’t just tormenting him. There was a reason Matt wanted to hear it, to his face. There was a reason… The hairs stood up on the back of Foggy’s neck.

Foggy shook his head slowly. “I c… I can’t.”

Slowly, almost shyly, Matt held out his other hand, the one not holding Karen’s. Foggy looked at it. He looked at Matt’s face, where color had returned to his cheeks. He looked at the rest of Matt. Bloodied but glorious, water running over the curves of his chest, the little muscles in the sides of his ribs.

Before Foggy’s mind could protest, Foggy’s body threw off his shirt and shucked off his pants. He stepped out of his socks, and took Matt’s hand, letting Matt pull him into the shower with them.

Matt’s arm wound around his waist. Matt’s face hovered close to Foggy’s for a heavy moment, and Foggy’s world narrowed down to Matt’s lips, parted and exhaling so close, and then they were on his own lips- Matt’s mouth- Foggy’s whole world was Matt’s mouth. Foggy had both his hands in Matt’s wet hair and was kissing back, kissing Matt for all he was worth.

They finally detached for breath, but Foggy still had Matt all pressed up against him, wet skin against wet skin. Foggy had kept on his boxers, and they were soaked and tented, his dick brushing against the hard muscles of Matt’s thigh. Matt seemed not unaffected himself.

And then Foggy remembered Karen, standing in the stream of water, still holding Matt’s hand, her hair and clothes drenched. She was looking at the two of them with her mouth open, eyebrows up, her expression a mixture of are-you-shitting-me and amusement.

“Karen, God, I’m sorry-“ Foggy started.

“No, no, _I’m_ sorry,” Karen laughed, ducking her head and holding up her free palm. “You two maybe need a little time.” She started to step out of the tub, pulling her hand free of Matt’s.

“No, Karen,” Matt said, not letting go of Foggy as the arm that’d had Karen stretched out after her. “Stay.”

Karen turned to him, one foot out of the tub. “’ _Stay_ ,’” she said back to him, like he couldn’t possibly be serious.

Matt nodded, suddenly looking sheepish. “I … missed both of you so much. I’m just…”

Karen stole a glance at Foggy, who must have been dumbly gaping, face beet red, because she found no answers there. She ran her hands over her wet hair and let out a long breath. “Matt, I’m – I’m flattered, wow. I just – I think I need some time.”

She stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel off the rack and started to squeeze out her hair. She paused and looked at Matt and Foggy in the shower, still holding each other under the stream of water. She sighed. “At least like ten minutes,” she muttered.

Foggy looked at Karen and at Matt and back at Karen again. And then Matt was kissing his neck, and his eyes rolled up into his head. The mixture of alcohol still in his bloodstream and adrenaline coursing through him already had his knees weak. Add to that the feel of Matt’s lips and tongue on him, the instant, helpless arousal that caused in him, and Foggy was no match for all this. His vision grayed at the edges, and he was dimly aware of hearing Karen’s shout of alarm as he slid down the wall of the shower and into quiet blackness.

\--

Foggy came to enveloped in the softest sheets. They felt great on his skin, and though his hair was damp, the rest of him was dry and warm and held. Held by arms. Arms were around him, warm faces tucked into his neck on both sides. He made a little sigh of contentment.

Then Foggy became a notch more conscious, and realized he was naked. In Matt’s bed. He cracked his eyes open and slid his eyes in each direction. Yep, that was Karen on one side of him, and Matt on the other.

“You’re awake,” Matt said, and kissed him, slow and soft. Foggy felt his dick stir against the silk sheets.

“You’re alive,” Foggy said, when Matt broke off the kiss.

Matt smiled at him, eyes wet. “I made a mistake, Foggy. Staying away, hiding from you. I see that now, how much I … I hurt the ones I love.” He propped himself up a little more on his elbow to address both Foggy and Karen. “Will you forgive me?” He asked. “Both of you?”

“We’ll see,” Karen said, lightly, in the pause Foggy left for her. Matt winced a little, and Karen laughed. She stroked Foggy’s chest idly with one hand. She had what felt like a pair of Matt’s sweatpants on and nothing from the waist up. Matt, on the other hand, was bare as the day he was born.

 _Huh, okay,_ Foggy thought. He noted dispassionately that he was still a little drunk. _This is happening._ _Alright._ It seemed no weirder than Matt coming back whole and mostly intact after a building fell on him. Plus Matt’s unexpected reaction to hearing Foggy’s feelings for him. On top of all that, having a threesome with Matt and Karen was maybe just a little bonus, the universe dispensing an extra coin out of the slot machine. Foggy would just roll with it. He turned toward Matt and pulled him close, kissing him hard; Matt responded with enthusiasm, opening his mouth to Foggy’s tongue. Foggy got his top hand around to Matt’s ass and squeezed. Matt groaned in his throat, and Foggy hummed appreciatively in response.

That handful of drunken make-outs from college came rushing back, vivid in his imagination. And the ones from law school. They’d always pretended it was just for fun, it was nothing real, it was two good friends helping out each others’ loneliness between girlfriends. They never talked about it sober. But it had so badly fueled the fire of Foggy’s crush, and he should have stopped it, stopped those hook-ups long before his infatuation solidified into full-blown, unshakable love. Foggy had always beat himself up for that, for not being the adult and putting a stop to it, for not protecting himself. But he’d been so young and dumb then.

Now, maybe none of that mattered. Things were different. And even if they weren’t - Matt couldn’t pretend it wasn’t real the next day; they had a witness. Karen was there.

Foggy felt Karen’s hands stroking his back as he and Matt made out. Karen pressed herself close against his back and kissed the back of his neck. She stroked his side, making him shiver, and then her hand slid around in between Foggy and Matt’s bodies to wrap around Foggy’s hard-on. Foggy gasped into Matt’s mouth.

“Careful, I might pass out again,” Foggy said to her, over his shoulder.

Karen snorted and kissed right under his ear. “Matt got the shit kicked out of him and half drowned, yet you’re the one passing out on me?”

Foggy managed a shrug. “What do you want from me, I’m only human and this is a lot! _Mmmm_ , oh, that’s good, but…”

“But?”

Foggy nodded his head toward Matt. “Touch him,” he said.

Karen’s smile got sly and she moved her hand slowly from Foggy’s dick to Matt’s, which had been bumping up against the back of her hand. “ _Ah_ , Karen,” Matt cried, a little breathless, head tilted back, as she stroked him.

Foggy was in heaven. He was sandwiched between the two sexiest people he would ever hope to get with, the softness of Karen’s breasts pressed up against his back, Matt’s chest and stomach and thighs shuddering against his front as Matt reacted to Karen’s hand, her wrist brushing up and down Foggy’s dick as she stroked Matt. Matt’s breathing was heavy and he was making delicious little noises. He wrapped his top leg around Foggy, and Karen fitted her leg under Matt’s, all of them tangling together.

It couldn’t get much better than this, could it?

“ _Wait_ wait wait wait,” Matt suddenly breathed, reaching down to still Karen’s hand.

“That soon, huh, baby?” Karen murmured, not so much teasing as awed.

“It’s been a while,” Matt said, low, smiling apologetically. But Foggy knew. He had enough snippets of those drunken college memories – the drunkest ones, the ones that Matt claimed to remember none of – to know how sensitive Matt was.

Matt interrupted Foggy’s memories by rolling on top of him, kissing him rough, and moving down his body. “Oh god – Karen, hold my hand,” Foggy cried as Matt tongued his nipple. Karen laughed as she kissed Foggy on the mouth. Foggy could hardly remember the last time he’d heard her sound so happy. She kept laughing as Matt lavished kisses on Foggy’s belly, making Foggy squirm and yelp, muffled, against her mouth. Karen slid her tongue against Foggy’s at the same moment as Matt licked up his dick. Foggy moaned, long and low, barely restraining his hips from bucking up into Matt’s face. Matt licked him again and then paused, making Foggy wait for it, making him whimper. And then finally sank his warm mouth down, down over Foggy’s cock, halfway down then up again and slowly, slowly down a little more than halfway. Karen was half on top of him by now, their chests pressed together, her hands mussing up his hair, and Foggy was running his palms up and down the soft curves of her back as Matt sunk down a little lower.

Foggy broke free of Karen’s lips to gasp for air. “ _Karen_ ,” he said, panting. “Matt. _Jesus_.”

“Pretty sure he’s not here,” quipped Karen, and ducked her head to kiss along Foggy’s collarbone and edge toward his nipple. They, too, had their history, and Karen remembered what Foggy liked.

Matt had eased himself deeper and deeper around Foggy’s cock, finally pushing himself the final bit forward so his nose grazed Foggy’s abdomen. Matt made a little choking sound but didn’t draw off, and Foggy felt Matt’s tongue and throat working just as Karen sucked his nipple into her mouth.

Okay, so maybe Matt wasn’t the only the sensitive one: Foggy was going to come in about five seconds. He warned Matt as much, reaching around Karen to touch Matt’s head and say a few breathy, half-coherent words, but Matt only picked up the pace.

“Matt, _Matt_ , god, you’re so good at that, you’re so _beautiful_ ,” Foggy sputtered, words pulled out of him helplessly. “I can’t believe you’re alive and you’re sucking my dick, god, _fuck_ , Matt, I _love_ you! I…” he broke off, crying out, jerking his hips up as he came, Matt staying on him, stilled but each tiny accidental movement of his tongue intensely felt as Foggy was tossed about by violent waves of pleasure.

He managed to not pass out again, but it was close.

Karen sat up and petted Foggy’s hair as he came back to himself. Matt laid his head on Foggy’s thigh, and Foggy yipped, pushing his head away. “Your stubble, dude, yikes. I just had an orgasm,” he protested, and Matt chuckled.

“I love you, too, Foggy,” he said, and climbed over Foggy on all fours to kiss him, slow and deep. Foggy moaned into it, barely able to move. Matt sat up and left him on his back, loose and all wrung out. Foggy watched Matt turn in Karen’s direction.

“And Karen – Karen, honey, I owe you something.”

“Oh?” Karen said, tilting her head. “And what’s that? Rent money?”

“That,” Matt said, a bit of his old smirk returning, “and something else, too.” Swinging his legs off the bed and standing up, he took her by the hips and gently pulled her toward the edge of the bed, as Karen made a cute, amused snort. Then Matt dropped to his knees and spread her thighs with his hands. Karen’s breathing picked up as Matt nudged his face between her legs.

Foggy willed his limp muscles to work so he could roll to one side and watch. Karen gripped Matt’s damp hair and groaned as Matt’s head moved, his nose and cheeks mushed into her body, the sounds of his tongue working. It was enough to make Foggy’s dick twitch and start to get hard again, that soon after coming.

Karen let herself fall back on the bed, head tilted up and one arm over her face, alternating gasping and murmuring encouragement to Matt. “That’s good, that’s good, oh, like _that_ ,” she said. She peeked at Foggy from under her forearm. “He _is_ good at this,” she whispered, and Matt’s responding _hmmmm_ from between her legs made her moan.

Foggy somehow found the strength to move after that. He crawled to her and leaned over her, kissing her mouth softly. Karen got one hand into his hair at the back of his head and pulled, making wonderful sounds into his lips and twitching and wriggling as Matt made her feel good.

Time passed slow and syrupy as Karen made her way closer and closer, taking her time, basking in Foggy’s kisses, talking dirtier and dirtier to Matt. _You love eating my pussy, don’t you? How long did you dream about getting down there?_ The best part was how Matt responded to the things she said, moaning and gasping and shuddering as if it was him being touched.

Karen and Foggy shared a look, and Foggy knew what to do. He clambered off the bed and came up behind Matt, one knee on each side of Matt’s knees. He wrapped his arms around Matt from behind, pulling himself closer, his dick slotting so nice between Matt’s round ass cheeks. Matt pushed his butt back into Foggy a bit, acknowledging him, never letting up on Karen. Foggy buried his face in the back of Matt’s neck, inhaling. _Matt_. He never thought he’d have Matt back again at all, not even as the shaky remains of a ruined friendship, much less this. He kissed the nape of Matt’s neck, then moved around to the side, where Matt’s neck connected with his shoulder. Matt loved being kissed there. Foggy had not forgotten.

Sucking on that spot, loving the noise Matt made, Foggy slid one hand down Matt’s front and slowly, slowly skimmed his fingertips over Matt’s dick. He heard Matt gasp against Karen, who had leaned up on her elbows to look down at them. She made eye contact with Foggy over Matt’s shoulder as Foggy stroked Matt, lightly and so slow. They both watched Matt’s muscles twitch. Karen dropped her head back. Her chest was flushed, and her breathing was heavy.

“Keep touching him, Foggy,” Karen panted. “Make-- make him come… _Oh god_.” She tensed up, hips pressing hard into Matt’s face, and gave some lovely cries as Matt finished her off with gusto. Foggy finally picked up the speed on Matt’s dick, and immediately Matt’s body convulsed and he yelled, muffled, into Karen. Foggy brought his other hand over Matt’s dick in time to block at least most of his come from getting all over the side of the bed, the floor, and Matt.

Heaving for breath, Matt fell backwards against Foggy’s body. He tilted his head back to rest on Foggy’s shoulder, smiling up towards Foggy, who kissed the side of his face.

“Get up here, you two,” came Karen’s sleepy voice from up on the bed.

Foggy had to half-drag Matt onto the bed. All his activity since collapsing in from the fire escape door seemed to have been fueled by adrenaline, and now he was fresh out. Karen stroked his hair and murmured to him while Foggy went to use the sink, and returned with a washcloth for him. They cleaned Matt up and got him tucked in under the sheets, and Matt did not protest. For once, he seemed grateful to be taken care of.

Karen and Foggy got into bed next to Matt, cuddling him from each side, and Matt grunted in contentment. Foggy envied his position as middle of the sandwich - _god that’d been nice_ – hopefully he’d have a chance to do that again sometime.

“At some point,” said Karen, “you have to tell us where you’ve been. Not now. But soon.”

Matt sighed. “The short answer, Karen? I’ve been to hell. And I probably will go there again.”

Karen rolled her eyes at his dramatics. Foggy stifled a laugh: Matt was being serious. Foggy was just so giddy he was back, it was hard to feel anything other than joy.

Matt sensed their reactions and made a mock-frown. “But listen to me, Karen – Foggy – I stayed away for a reason. At least, I thought it was a good reason. I was wrong. I need you, both of you.”

Karen’s face looked for a moment like she was going to give another sarcastic rejoinder, but she bit it back. “I’m glad you realize that,” she told Matt, sincerely.

“Just don’t die again, okay?” Foggy said.

“I’ll try not to,” Matt said. Foggy knew that was the best he was going to get. He sighed and kissed Matt’s lips gently.

A few whispered _I love you’s_ could be heard. And then a few more. The three of them held each other tight and kept saying it, until their words and thoughts faded into a deep, calm sleep.


End file.
